What a way to ruin my day... Last weekend when I did the oil change, I noticed some wetness around the driver's side valve cover gasket. I thought it might have just been a drip from when I poured the oil in (even though I'm meticulous)... I wiped it off and finished the oil change. Today I smelled some oil when I got home. I opened the hood and sure enough, the valve cover gasket was wet again... It looks like it is coming from the front of the valve cover gasket. The car is an 06 that I have owned since new and has 8,000 miles on it. I'm very nervous about taking it into my local dealer as I don't have a lot of faith, based on past experience. I have no choice though. I'm tempted to just do it myself, but I know they won't warrantee it in the future. Oh well. Have anyone else had this issue? My 2004 with 45k miles never had a single problem...

 

Hello,

I have the exact same problem and issue with the dealers. The valve cover is made of magnesium and it would be very easy to over torque the bolts. My other concern is removing the old gasket from the head and/or cover. My car is also a 2006. I am very tempted to do the work myself. Has anyone actual performed this work? The cost of the gasket is $17.88.

Not alot of information in the service manual....

CYLINDER HEAD COVER

DESCRIPTION

Magnesium cylinder head covers provide trouble-free sealing, are lighter than aluminum and dampen valve noise.
They are cast in two pieces to create internal ventilation passages with oil separators for crankcase vapor ventilation.
This ventilation system virtually prevents the possibility of oil sludge formation due to the retention of water
vapor in the engine.

REMOVAL

1. Remove the air cleaner housing.

2. Disconnect the ignition coil harness connectors (2).
3. Disconnect the spark plug wires (1) at the spark plugs.
4. Position aside the vacuum hoses at the cylinder head cover
retainers (3).
5. Disconnect the crankcase ventilation hose from the left cylinder
head cover.

6. Remove the cylinder head cover bolts (1) and the cylinder
head covers (2).

INSTALLATION

1. Check the gasket for tearing and breakage. If damage is
evident, replace the gasket.
2. Position the cylinder head covers (2) on the cylinder head.
Install the cylinder head cover bolts (1) and tighten to 10
N·m (7 ft. lbs.).

 

Try giving the valve cover bolts a lil tweak, sometimes it works, sometimes it don't !

Just my Dos Centavos

 

I've done this numerous times on other cars/trucks.. I can't imagine it being that difficult. It's the easiest gasket to replace other than the oil filter gaskets.

And what the dealers don't know wont hurt them

 

This is one little weakness in the 06. Mine had less than 2000 miles & the leak was in the same area. Although I have done this many times in my past too, I have the lifetime pwr. train warranty so left it with my dealer to keep my protection in order. It took 3 days of rental car use til they finished this small job. One to diagnose & of course order the part from Chg.,since nothing in stock for our cars except oil & filters. Day two discovered wrong gasket shipped to dealership. Day 3 arrived o.k. in early morning & got call about 2 p m to pick the black shadow! Loaner car was a P.T. Cruiser. What a disappointment. I drive very conservative, & even so at each turn I thought I was going to tip over from its high stance & weight dist.
crossfireone

 

I'm going to check the torque on the valve cover bolts and if they are tight, I guess I will take it in so they can fix it under warranty. My dad has a Cadillac and the dealership is the best I've ever seen, service is excellent..Sure wish they made a Chrysler dealer like that

 

On my 07 it had just over 12000 when I had it in for the drivers side valve cover gasket.
They looked at it, wiper it off, ran it, wiped it, ran it, then said it was leaking That' s what I told them.
The part took over 30 days to get in, and they scrashed the fender.
I really don't like to take my cars to the dealer also. My truck has 2 recalls & other things
also to fix. Good luck & best wishes !!!

 

My 05 Coupe had the same issue, but I had it REALLY bad and on BOTH sides. Took it in to the dealer, took 2 days to fix.. no problems afterwords. They even cleaned it up nice for me..

 

Gave my bolts a little tweak, that's all it took for me.

 

I have had the problem in my last car. Tried torquing the bolts a little, but it actually made it worse. What made me mad is the valve cover gasket was new from when I replaced the head gasket... Well, long story short you just have to make sure you clean the surface very good with mineral spirits, or something to clean off the oil.

Not too sure how to do it on the Crossfire although I assume it is a similar process. Basically you will need a manual to tell you the pattern of torquing the bolts and what value to torque them. I'd rather nag a dealer than to do it myself though, especially if you have a warranty...

 

Many times it's not the actual valve cover to cylinder head gasket.....it's the gasket on the top of the valve cover where the "mini-valve cover" is. Mine occasionally loses a little oil there. it can be easily fixed with a couple of hours, some gasket remover, and a fresh tube of RTV sealant.

 

Double post......fat fingered it.

 

I was thinking it might be coming from the upper mini cover too... I'm taking the car in on monday morning and i'm going to wait for it... I'll keep you guys posted.

 

I noticed the same slight weeping on the front driver's side of my 2007 head. I cleaned it off and am watching. The car has 8500 miles and 2 years on warranty, so it goes back to the dealer if the problem continues.

 

Here's a link that shows the sealant I used to fix mine (MB Product)

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=25083

And here's a great link to the MB forum that shows what the covers look like when there off. Pretty simple job

http://mbworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=226329&highlight=

 

Brian,
Thanks for your tips. I cleaned mine off last night and drove about 10 miles today. I checked tonight and it was wet again and appears to only be coming from the small breather cover on top of the valve cover. Do you have the TSB for this? Thanks again! Always good to have the support of the forum...

 

I didn't find a TSB, but I'm sure if you car is under warranty the dealer would fix the leak...

 

UPDATE: I took the car in this morning and got it fixed. I was very happy with the technician who has worked on my other Crossfire in the past. He took care of the car, knew what he was talking about and did a nice job on the repair. It ended up being the breather cover on top of the valve cover. He resealed both sides and said that it is a very common problem with the Crossfires.

He also gave me a tip to share with you guys...He said if you do the oil change yourself (which I do) that you should pour in the new oil through the oil filter housing when you have it apart rather than the oil filler cap. He showed me the bottom of the breather cover when he had it off and their is a pocket that the oil sits in when you pour it in and it can cause the RTV silicone to wear away after time..If you pour it thru the oil filter housing it goes straight into the pan.

 

I think my "mini valve cover" gasket is leaking. I assume the 7 ft. lbs. is for the main (large) valve cover bolts.

 

Uh oh. I checked both my n/a XFs yesterday and found a little leaking around the valve covers. I gave each bolt about an 1/8 of a turn (less for the torx screws). I don't want to warp the covers, but I could feel each of them snug down a tad plus one bolt was pretty loose.